Not long after he returned ho,
Xiao Xuei ca looking for him. She said she wanted to take advantage of the last two days to go to the river and catch more fish and shrimp with the Earth Cages.
"Sure, I’ll go get the Earth Cages." Qin Ziwen turned and went inside, handing all six to her. "But there are crocodiles by the river, so you need to be careful, Sister-in-law. How about I go with you all in a bit?"
Xiao Xuei quickly waved her hands. "Don’t trouble yourself with a special trip. The riverbank is much safer now. I’ve seen a lot of people using fishing nets, and plenty of homade cages and fishing rods. You basically don’t see any crocodiles. I’ll ask Heng Sheng and Teacher Wei to co with later."
Qin Ziwen nodded. "Alright, you all be careful then."
Xiao Xuei had just left when Li Tieshan ca out of the house, a newly forged Broadsword in his hand.
"Sir, this is the Broadsword forged from the new iron. Please, have a look."
He took the hilt and swung it a couple of tis. It had a good feel.
The sound the blade made as it cut through the air was especially clear, like the tearing of cloth.
"It’s a good sword, but a little light."
Li Tieshan’s eyes went wide. ’This is light?’
He took the sword back and tested it himself. He felt it was still a bit heavy.
"Then how much more weight do you need, Sir?"
"No rush. Xiaowu, you try it."
Qin Ziwu took the sword. After trying it out, his face lit up with delight. He thought it was a perfect fit.
Qin Ziwen said, "Give this one to him. For the next weapon, don’t make a sword. Forge a Three-pronged Fork made of pure iron. The shaft needs to be iron too, preferably cast in one piece."
"Yes, Sir!"
Generally, with polearms, only the head was forged from pure iron or bronze. The shaft was usually made of wood, because wood was light.
If the entire weapon was cast from pure iron, it would be far too heavy.
Being able to lift it was one thing; being able to wield it as a weapon for an extended period was another entirely.
Back at the Blacksmith Shop, Li Tieshan tossed slabs of steel into the furnace, adding carbon and quenching them.
While Li Tieshan was busy, Zhang Bo personally ca to the door with a catch of fish.
Outside, Zhang Bo was carrying a large bucket packed to the brim with fish. Two of his followers trailed behind him, each carrying two large buckets as well.
"Boss Qin, here are the fish you wanted. This is the first hundred jin," Zhang Bo said with a smile.
"Thank you for your trouble, Boss Zhang. You can just put them on the ground." Qin Ziwen and Qin Ziwu took the large bucket from him and carried it inside, placing it by the door.
Suddenly, Zhang Bo’s ears perked up. He thought he heard... a TING, TING, TING sound?
It sounded like... tal being struck?!
Seeing that Qin Ziwen was about to close the door, Zhang Bo quickly stopped him. "Wait, Boss Qin, you haven’t paid yet!"
Qin Ziwen’s expression didn’t change. "I’ll pay you for everything at once after you’ve delivered the full amount."
’No! Who pays for goods only after the entire order is delivered? If you decide to skip out on the bill, won’t I be out more than a hundred jin of salt!’
However, hearing the faint sound of forging, Zhang Bo cald down. "Paying later isn’t out of the question. I trust your credit, Boss Qin!"
Zhang Bo put heavy emphasis on the word "credit." "It’s just... that sound. Why does it seem so familiar?"
"Oh, you an the sound of forging? Does your family have a Blacksmith Shop too, Boss Zhang?" Qin Ziwen asked in return.
Zhang Bo sucked in a cold breath. This ti, he was truly feeling sour with envy.
’Besides a Salt Well, you also have a Blacksmith Shop? And not just a Blacksmith Shop—taking this many fish, you’ve probably got so kind of fish-farming building too. You really deserve to die!’
Zhang Bo forced a smile. "My family doesn’t have a Blacksmith Shop. I’ve just heard the sound on TV shows before. I never thought it would sound the sa in real life, haha. I was just wondering, Boss Qin, are you selling any ironware?"
"Not for now. I don’t even have enough for myself, and the output is very low," Qin Ziwen said. "However, if there’s a surplus later on, I might consider selling to others."
Zhang Bo said directly, "Hahaha, Boss Qin, if you do decide to sell, how about you give so extra consideration?"
"Sure. If I have any to spare, I can consider you first, Boss Zhang."
"Then it’s a deal!"
Zhang Bo made a bit more small talk before reluctantly taking his leave.
As he went downstairs, Zhang Bo was a little excited. He hadn’t expected to uncover such a huge secret.
Qin Ziwen actually had a Blacksmith Shop!
Zhang Bo thought of Huang Tao and couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.
’That son of a bitch. He laughed at my building back then. Let’s see if he’s still laughing when Boss Qin’s Blacksmith Shop opens for business.’
’How can wooden tools compete with iron ones? Your business will shrink by at least half!’
The thought that he wouldn’t be the only one at a disadvantage made Zhang Bo feel inexplicably better.
The two n following Zhang Bo asked in a low voice, "Brother Zhang, it’s just a Blacksmith Shop, isn’t it? I rember there’s a guy in the Gated Community, Mou Dachui, who built his own furnace, got a hamr, and has been banging out so ironware. It should be about the sa, right?"
’About the sa?’
Zhang Bo scoffed.
’Not even close!’
Soone who had never obtained a Building Card would never understand.
There was a fundantal difference between items produced via a Building Card and ordinary ones.
Otherwise, how could Huang Tao’s carpentry workshop be doing such booming business?
But he didn’t want to explain further. He just warned them, "Good work today. You’ll each get two jin of coarse salt when we get back. Keep your mouths shut and don’t go spreading rumors about what just happened.
I don’t want to hear even a whisper about this. You should know my rules!"
The two n quickly agreed. They were well aware of Zhang Bo’s thods.
Previously, soone who worked for him had betrayed him. Not three days later, the man was clubbed from behind while he was out and ended up with a broken leg.
After Zhang Bo left,
Qin Ziwen and Qin Ziwu worked together to haul the buckets of fish to the kitchen. From there, they passed the buckets through the window to the platform outside and poured them into the Fish Pond.
One after another, large, lively fish leaped into the water, sending up huge splashes.
After all five buckets were emptied into the pond, the entire Fish Pond seed to radiate with a new layer of vitality.
The fish that entered the Fish Pond weren’t afraid of people. Ripples would occasionally appear on the water’s surface, and so could be seen nibbling on the duckweed.
By evening, the mountain expedition team had returned.
In addition to retrieving the Card from the cave, they had also hunted two squirrels, one field mouse, and two pheasants along the way.
The field mouse had been caught alive by the Beaked Eagle. It had pinned the mouse directly on the hillside and brought it back alive.
Du Yu said, "Sir, I heard you were collecting these mountain creatures, so I had them try to catch them alive."
"Thank you for your hard work." Qin Ziwen took the large, gray field mouse from his hand.
The mouse’s wound had been crudely staunched. Held in his hand, its heart was beating rapidly, its pupils were wide, and its chest heaved violently.
Seeing its state, he figured it would probably scare itself to death in a few more monts.
He opened the beast cage and placed it inside.
The gray field mouse, which had been anxious, gradually cald down, and its heart rate slowed.
Although it wasn’t the first ti he had witnessed the Magic Power of the beast cage, Qin Ziwen still marveled at it.
Three female field mice in heat gathered around.
They frequently sniffed at the gray male mouse.
A white female mouse approached, nudged the male’s head, and then scurried away, wiggling its rump.
After a few steps, it stopped and looked back to see if he was chasing it.
Another one, a spotted field mouse, went to the male’s right side, its ears twitching rapidly.
The last one, a black field mouse, circled around him, gently licking his wound.
The gray male mouse just squatted there motionlessly, like a block of wood.
Seeing it didn’t react, the three female mice grew more and more agitated.
Finally, they all moved in front of it, arched their backs, raised their rumps, and cocked their little tails, turning their heads to look at him.
Gray Male Mouse: ???
The male mouse slowly lifted its head, its rodent face a picture of deep contemplation.
Dragging away Qin Ziwu, who wanted to keep watching the mouse show, Qin Ziwen went to the living room and asked Du Yu, "What Card did the altar give today?"
Du Yu replied, "An Ordinary Building Card called Papermill. No one has redeed it yet. Sir, the Card is here."
With that, he held out a Card to Qin Ziwen.
’A Papermill?’
This building was a bit of a mixed bag—not useless, but not imdiately useful either.
Paper was a good commodity and would definitely have a market. But the next map was the Gobi Desert, so there probably wouldn’t be many raw materials for papermaking. Even if he built it, it would be useless for the ti being.
But speaking of Cards, Qin Ziwen thought of sothing else.
He called everyone in the Ho together, then took out the Papermill Building Card and had everyone co up and try to take it one by one.
After a round of testing, he discovered that besides Du Yu and Qin Ziwu, no one else could even touch the Card.
Now he could be certain: among all the mbers he had recruited, only Du Yu was special.
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